1000 miles and a thunderstorm

Monday, June 2 (Day 17)

Distance: 90 miles

Average speed: 10.8 mph

Max: 30.6 mph

Total: 1042 miles

Somewhere along in the morning, the other touring cyclist from my campground caught up with me and we talked for a while. His name is Josh. He still gave me the creeps though, so I took a long break and didn't see him again.

After a series of mistakes and backtracking, I had ridden the same 8 mile stretch three times and by noon I was only about 3 miles closer to camp. I was getting worried because I'd hoped to arrive before the rain began and feeling demoralized.

It turns out what I had believed to be the tunnel of trees yesterday wasn't actually the tunnel of trees, which I took today. It was really gorgeous, but I had a very weird problem: clouds of bugs. They hang out over the road and passing through them, they get into your eyes, nose, mouth, under your collar and into your shirt.

As I left the tunnel of trees, it began to rain. Hard. I took cover under an awning as I tried to decide what to do. I waited for about half an hour but it only started raining harder. I still had 30 miles to ride and needed to arrive before dark, so I put on my rain gear, turned on my lights for the first time, and headed out into the storm for a very wet ride.

I got upset every time a car passed me too quickly, because I would then be showered from above and from the side. It was the first time since Canada that I thought how easy and nice it would be to just get on a plane and go home...

I started to enjoy it after about 10 miles, when the rain let up a little and things started looking very beautiful. The air was crisp and I had made the decision to stay in a hotel for the night. What a treat!

So overall, a challenging but successful day. My plan for tomorrow (although clearly my plans never work) is to take my time and only ride 30 or 40 miles after finally crossing Mackinac Bridge!

I've now ridden over 1000 miles and I'm 1/3 of the way to the coast. It's hard to believe I've actually made it so far, and in only 17 days.